Dragon Canon

Four figures appeared in four different directions surrounding the Liao chiliarch, but it wasn’t until the overwhelming Dao energy in their hands erupted that he finally noticed their presence. In an instant, countless flying swords rained down upon him!

Wei Yuan and his three Dao Foundation stage warriors were each wielding a flying sword gun and shooting everything they got at the Liao chiliarch. The flying swords shattered in battle armor, ripped his battle robes into tiny strips, shredded his flesh, and carved cracks into his bones! In the blink of an eye, the Liao chiliarch was struck by dozens of flying swords, leaving him battered and bruised all over!

These flying swords were also different from the ones that had been planted earlier. They were much bigger and a whole level more powerful. Each flying sword was equivalent to a single strike from a Dao Foundation stage cultivator, so the Liao chiliarch felt as if he had been hit by dozens of Dao spells in rapid succession. Even with his formidable mystic body, the injuries he sustained were quite severe.

In the blink of an eye, the sword boxes had emptied their payloads. A lull appeared in the output of gunfire.

A savage grin spread across the Liao chiliarch’s face, and the shamanist, who had been rushing toward the scene at full speed this whole time, let out a sigh of relief as well.

Just then, they saw Wei Yuan and the three warriors pulling out another fully-loaded sword box and held it on their shoulders. The entire process had taken less than a breath.

The Liao chiliarch’s savage grin froze on his face, while the shamanist turned and fled!

A torrent of flying swords tore the Liao chiliarch to pieces, and Wei Yuan looked up at the sky expectantly. However, no worldly reward appeared to him. It was only then he recalled that the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree had already revived.

Still, it hadn’t sprouted yet. How could it possibly consume all of the worldly reward for killing an Avatar?

Wei Yuan looked inside the Great Realm and saw that not one, but two new sprouts had appeared on the ground. One of them had a white-gold leaf, and the other had a blue leaf. There was a ring of frost around the sprout with blue leaf as well.

Well, that explains it... Wei Yuan silently left the Great Realm.

The kill had been swift and decisive, taking only a few breaths from start to finish. Wei Yuan and the Dao Foundation stage warrior had each emptied two sword boxes, equivalent to 160 Dao Foundation-level strikes.

In terms of damage output per unit of time, the attack had already surpassed Wei Yuan’s Golden Light Water Blade and fallen only slightly short of the Myriad Vicissitudes Sword, which he had only just begun to grasp.

Wei Yuan quickly gathered the Liao chiliarch’s weapons and waist pouch and sent two Dao Foundation stage warriors back into the Great Realm. He then ordered the third—the one still brimming with Dao energy—to carry the woman on his back and continue their escape.

This time, they were able to flee for two ke straight before the tracking mark Wei Yuan had left behind was finally triggered. According to the information relayed by the mark, the pursuing force had been reduced to just a single Avatar and a dozen or so Dao Foundations. It would appear that he had thoroughly cowed the shamanist after killing the Liao chiliarch. It was only after confirming that Wei Yuan was still far away did he dare to follow the previous mark, and by then the distance between them had already widened to a whopping 300 li.

Wei Yuan finally allowed himself to slow his pace slightly, and his Dao energy began to gradually increase.

Hundreds of li away, a Liao youth—nearly a zhang tall with deep-set features—stood atop a snow-capped peak, gazing into the distance. The shamanist standing beside him stammered nervously, “... That is what happened, Lord Dragonhawk. Zhetai has already fallen in battle, and the reason I temporarily abandoned the pursuit is only to bring you this news.”

The Liao youth, with a pair of strange, pale-gold eyes, listened patiently until the shamanist had finished before replying, “Zhetai was fairly capable. You said he only held out for five breaths?”

“Yes, my lord. The enemy’s mystic treasure was formidable, and they had three[1] men lying in ambush. I had not sensed these three at all beforehand,” the shamanist spoke while trembling slightly.

Dragonhawk was the only one among the seven myriarchs in the Golden Horde of the Snow Plains who wasn’t a True Lord, but the fact that he held such a high position despite not having reached that cultivation level made him all the more formidable. Moreover, he had been adopted as an honorary son by the Great Khan himself and held an extremely high status among the Liao.

“Is the mark still there?” Dragonhawk asked.

“It is!” The shamanist hastily replied.

“That’s good enough. Point the way—we’re going after them.”

The shamanist quickly released his blood bee, then said to the group of Dao Foundations. “You may return on your own.”

But Dragonhawk said, “No need. I can use some errand runners.” He waved his hand, causing a halo to appear around each Dao Foundation stage cultivator and lifting them slightly off the ground. Despite carrying so many people with him, he clearly had plenty of energy to spare and kept up with the shamanist effortlessly.

As Wei Yuan was running, he received another tracking signal. The distance had suddenly shrunk from 300 li to 90 li!

The pursuers’ speed had surged dramatically. There was no doubt that a powerful enemy had joined the chase. If his luck were even slightly worse, he might be detected by the enemy the very next time the Blood Tracking Mark left its mark. There would truly be no escape then.

But Wei Yuan did not panic. Instead, he stopped in his tracks and quickly set up a feng shui array. He resumed his escape only after he had temporarily boosted his fortune using the aura of the immortal plants.

Moments later, a blood bee flew over this area, with Dragonhawk and the shamanist following closely behind. A dozen or so Dao Foundations were being dragged along behind Dragonhawk as well.

The blood bee seemed to sense something and tried to land, but the shamanist was urging it on so insistently that it ultimately decided to ignore the anomaly it had just sensed and continued forward. Thus, the Liao group flew right over the feng shui array Wei Yuan had set up, completely unaware of its existence.

Soon, the Liao group arrived at the spot where the Blood Tracking Mark had left its mark. The shamanist said, “He’s fled less than 80 li this time, meaning that he’s probably changed his direction. We can make a reasonable guess as to where he’s headed. That way, we might be able to catch him at the very next mark.”

“We go left!” Dragonhawk declared without hesitation.

And so the group chose a direction that was slightly to the left and began their pursuit. Along the way, the shamanist remarked, “I’ve long heard that you possess extraordinary fortune, my lord. Our quarry will most likely fall right into your hands as if it was destined!”

Dragonhawk was an outspoken and straightforward man. He laughed heartily and said, “Ever since I’ve come to cultivation, every time I’ve left the mountain to hone myself, I’ve had remarkable encounters. I’ve always acted on instinct and have never been wrong—it has gotten to the point that I barely even have to think about my decisions these days. It absolutely drives my sect fellows crazy, yet there is nothing they can do about it! For me, adventuring around the world is just that simple!”

As they chatted and laughed, Dragonhawk and his entourage of Dao Foundations had flown 200 li. Just then, a new signal arrived indicating the quarry’s location. Instead of shortening, the distance between them had increased from 90 li to 130 li!

Judging by Wei Yuan’s current position, he had fled to the right since the last mark. His direction deviated significantly from theirs as well, almost forming a right angle.

The Liao group quickly caught up to the new mark’s location, and this time, the shamanist dared not predict a direction or even mention it again. However, Dragonhawk declared in a deep voice, “Left!”

A moment later, Wei Yuan had pulled ahead by another 10 li.

“Left!”

“Left!”

......

After five incorrect predictions in a row, Dragonhawk’s expression went beyond just “sour”. He had chased to the left five times in a row, only for Wei Yuan to escape to the right each time. The distance between them had already stretched to 200 li, even though Dragonhawk had secretly upped his pace.

On the sixth attempt, Dragonhawk said to the shamanist, “You do it!”

The shamanist inwardly groaned in despair. After a moment’s thought, he replied, “Left!”

But once again, Wei Yuan chose to go right.

By this point, the shamanist was getting angry as well. He snapped, “There is just no way he would run to the right again!”

Choosing “right” seven times in a row was like betting on “big” on Big-and-Small[2] seven times in a row at a gambling house. The shamanist simply couldn’t believe that any gambling house could roll “big” seven times in a row. If they did, and if ever came across a gambling house like that, he would definitely smash it to pieces.

The results of the seventh prediction came in: Wei Yuan still ran to the right.

The shamanist felt as though he’d run into a stubborn mule.

On the eighth try, the shamanist finally gave up his stubbornness and chose to go right. But this time, the stubborn mule suddenly changed his mind and played the good guy.

Seeing that their quarry was still 200 li away, the shamanist finally lost his nerve. Unable to stand this anymore, Dragonhawk called the shamanist, “Useless!” before choosing to go left.

And so the two stubborn mules butted heads again for the seventh time.

At that moment, Dragonhawk suddenly realized something and asked, “He’s just a mere Dao Foundation. How on earth has he managed to keep running for so long? Isn’t he exhausted yet? What kind of Dao Foundation could possess so much Dao energy?”

The shamanist replied, “There are many Dao techniques that burn one’s lifespan for power or draw out one’s latent potential by force. Perhaps he’s already on the brink of death. My lord, if we set your subordinates down, it’ll surely take us no more than an hour to catch him!”

Dragonhawk shook his head. “Speed isn’t the key right now.”

Whenever the two sides took different paths, moving faster sometimes actually widened the gap between them. Besides, even an ordinary Avatar would struggle to sustain a speed of over 200 li per ke for long. For instance, after such a long chase, the shamanist’s qi and blood were boiling, his heart was pounding like a drum, and he had already depleted more than half of his mystic energy.

Dragonhawk continued, “Didn’t you say that he was fleeing with a mortal in tow?”

“Judging by the marks left by the tracking mark, that appeared to be the case.”

“Our quarry is a mere Dao Foundation stage cultivator, and he’s even burdened by a mortal. If I can’t catch up to them even under these circumstances, what face would I, Dragonhawk, have left? I must take my subordinates with me—that’s the only way to make it fair.”

The shamanist inwardly groaned, but dared not go against his superior’s decision. There was one silver lining to Lord Dragonhawk’s decision to keep picking left at least—it effectively forced Wei Yuan to circle around the mountains. The only difference was that their loop was a bit larger.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan was sprinting at full speed, his forehead covered in a faint sheen of sweat. Suddenly, a wisp of blood qi shot skyward from his skull and left a mark in the sky.

Without hesitation, Wei Yuan veered sharply to the right and continued his mad dash. The astral gales on these snow-capped mountains were so powerful that running was only slightly slower than flying, while consuming far less energy.

Just then, the woman who had remained silent all this time suddenly spoke up. “Let me down. You won’t escape with me dragging your feet!”

Wei Yuan replied with unwavering resolve: “Absolutely not!”

“If you keep this up, we’ll both die! Put me down, and you’ll still have a chance to survive. If you truly care for me, you can simply avenge me down the line.”

“Never! Not unless I die first!”

“But—”

Wei Yuan slapped the woman on the buttocks and snarled, “Shut up!”

A sudden flush spread across his Dao energy surged anew. He had used a Dao spell to forcefully draw out his latent potential.

Pale flames once again rose from the few unhealed fissures still existing across the Great Realm. The earth’s vitality began to fade, and its spirituality gradually receded.

Wei Yuan remained composed. He waved his hand and summoned a Dao Foundation stage warrior to replace the one who had just completely exhausted his Dao energy. Then, they kept running. This was how he was able to maintain peak speed throughout the chase.

However, the Dao Foundation stage warriors all drew upon Wei Yuan’s Dao energy. He was still severely injured, and there were still remnants of the heavenly eye’s pale fire within his Dao Foundation. After running at full speed for four hours straight, his Dao energy ultimately ran dry.

If his pursuer had been only that shamanist, Wei Yuan would have been confident he could wear down their mystic energy reserves and escape to safety. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option as the shamanist was joined by an exceptionally formidable ally, even though their luck was truly abysmal, and they kept chasing in the wrong direction every time.

By this point, Wei Yuan was resorting to a secret technique that damaged his Dao Foundation to generate more Dao energy. However, he never hesitated for even an instant. He would rather turn back and die fighting than abandon the woman.

Just then, a newly sprouted shoot trembled, shaking loose its single white-gold leaf. When the leaf landed on the ground, it suddenly transformed into a vast flood of icy-cold moonlight, gushing forth from the earth!

The moonlight coalesced into a white-gold light barrier that swirled and shifted through the air, instantly causing Wei Yuan’s Dao energy regeneration rate to increase tenfold, no, a hundredfold! In the blink of an eye, not only was his Dao energy fully replenished, his upper limit was increasing continuously!

Wei Yuan’s speed stabilized at its peak. Finally, as night fell, a terrifying will descended. Wei Yuan instantly ducked into a natural cave and sealed the entrance. The pursuing Liao group did the same, including the arrogant Dragonhawk. Even he did not dare to move a muscle during this time.

In these vast, boundless snow-capped mountains of the far north, if danger were just beginning to loom after noon, then once night fell, this place truly became a land of death and desolation—one where even a True Lord would struggle to take a single step.

Inside the cramped cave, the shamanist struggled to move his body, pushing against the group of Dao Foundation stage subordinates just to create some breathing room for himself. Then, he said, “My lord, he’s not far now! We’ll definitely catch him first thing tomorrow morning!”

1. The author wrote 2 here but no matter how I do the math—especially since he was “kind” enough to mention 160 strikes—it doesn’t make sense. So I corrected it to 3. If I turned out to be wrong instead do correct me. ☜

2. Sic bo (Chinese: 骰寶), also known as tai sai (大細), dai siu (大小), big and small or hi-lo, is an unequal game of chance of ancient Chinese origin played with three dice. Grand hazard and chuck-a-luck are variants, both of English origin. The literal meaning of sic bo is "precious dice", while dai siu and dai sai mean "big [or] small". ☜